Question Package
Title: The Possibility of Evil
1) Describe the setting.
The story takes place in a quaint town. The place is very clean and well kept. In the
town there is a grocery, Miss Strangeworth’s house, shanties on the low road, a
park, post office, church, lumber mill, high school, library, soda shop, newspaper
shop, the Stewart house, city hall, police station, and a fire hall.
The story takes place over the period of two days; from early morning to late at
night, and the next morning. It is summer-time when the story takes place.
2) Describe/discuss the character of Miss Adela Strangeworth.
Ms. Strangeworth is an old lady of seventy-one years old who lives in a clean and
pleasant town. She feels she owns the town, and that it is her job to prevent wrongdoings and acts of evil by sending gossip letters to people’s houses. She informs
everybody of anything that might be troublesome. Ms. Strangeworth is very proud
of her roses, which had been passed down from her grandmother, and her mother.
She thinks there is nothing wrong with what she does; in fact she thinks that it is her
duty to do so.
3) How long has Miss Strangeworth lived in her town? Discuss her ties to the town
and infer how this makes her feel about her position there.
She has lived in the town all her life. She is very proud that her grandfather was the
one who “started” the town. She feels the town is full of evil, so she makes it her
duty to rid of the evil, and prevent it by sending letters of gossip to everybody in the
town.
4) Discuss how the town’s visitors respond to Miss Strangeworth’s roses. Explain
how she responds.
The tourists admire her roses, and always ask to take some with them because they
are so beautiful. She never gives them out to people because she doesn’t like the
thought of strange people carrying them into places she was not familiar to. She
feels that her roses should be treated with excellent care.
5) Explain how the people in town react and respond to Miss Strangeworth. What do
you think their impression of her is?
The townspeople respect her, and see her as an advisor. Her family did a lot for the
town, so she is seen just as important as her family because of their achievements.
When she is walking down the street, many people greet her and ask her questions
about things that they are unsure about. Teenagers and children also respectfully
greet her because their parents would never allow them to mock Ms. Strangeworth
of Pleasant Street.
6) Discuss the relationship between Tommy Lewis and Miss Strangeworth and
explain how that relationship has changed over the years. Infer what might have
been the basis of the relationship. Then explain how and why it changed.
Tommy and Adela were probably in love when they were young. “They had been in
high school together, and had gone to picnics together, and to school dances and
basketball games...” (pg.212). This relationship changed most likely because Tommy
started working at the grocery, and they saw each other less. They stopped calling
each other “Addie” and “Tommy”, and started calling each other “Ms.
Strangeworth” and “Mr. Lewis”.
7) Describe Ms. Harper as she reaches for her pocketbook. Explain what Mrs.
Strangeworth thinks about Martha’s behavior.
Ms. Harper was shaking and acting panicky. Ms. Strangeworth thinks that Ms.
Harper might have not been taking proper care of herself.
8) Mrs. Strangeworth meets Helen Crane, the mother of a six month old infant, and
Miss Chandler, the librarian. Discuss her interactions with them and her
observations about them.
She talks with Helen Crane, discussing the six month old infant who has not learn to
walk yet. Helen thinks that the baby is a little slow, and Ms. Strangeworth assures
her that there is nothing to worry about.
Then, Ms. Strangeworth sees Ms. Chandler, and sees that Ms. Chandler seems
absentminded and worried about something. Her hair isn’t neat, which Ms.
Strangeworth notices. Ms. Strangeworth then notes that she hates sloppiness.
9) There is a revealing statement (p. 215) about how the town views Miss
Strangeworth. Explain what that is and why.
The town is proud of Ms. Strangeworth and her roses because it is a great spectacle.
The house is hundreds of years old, and was the first house built in the town, but it
still looks amazing. The Strangeworth family contributed a lot to the creation and
well-being of the town, so Adela is part of the legacy.
10) Explain the difference between the papers Miss Strangeworth uses to write
letters. Discuss the other ways in which these letters differ.
Her usual stationary is cream-colored and heavy, but when she writes her gossip
letters, she uses the multi-colored paper pads sold at the newspaper shop. These
pads are used by everybody for many things, so this way when she buys them it isn’t
suspicious. If she were to buy regular stationary all the time, people would suspect
something. The paper pads are used for everything from storing food to organizing
papers.
11) Discuss the purpose of Miss Strangeworth’s letters.
She writes the letters to inform people of their misdeeds, or warning them of
something that might happen. They may not be entirely true, but they still have an
effect on the recipients. The letters cause stress and chaos in the town because
nobody knows who sends them and why anyone would do it.
12) Why does Miss Strangeworth lie about the goings on in her town?
She lies to make people aware that bad things can happen. The things she writes
about probably never happen, but people become aware of them and become
panicky for nothing. She thinks she is helping when she really is just wrecking the
town.
13) Explain what Miss Strangeworth sees as her role in the community.
She sees herself as the owner of the town. Her grandfather started the lumber mill
and built the first house in the town, and she is very proud at that. She feels it is her
duty to inform people of their misdeeds, and to prevent wrongdoings in the town
filled with evil.
14) After finishing the letters, Miss Strangeworth sets down to tea. Discuss the irony
of her thoughts after writing the letters. Explain Miss Strangeworth’s idea of
“living graciously” (218). Then, prove that she is not.
After writing the letters, she explains how she responds when people ask her if she
as to do with the letters. She would say that she is Adela Strangeworth, and that she
would never get involved with such a thing. This contradicts what she says before,
when she explains that she is the only Strangeworth left in the world, and that it is
her duty to rid the town of any evil.
She thinks of living graciously as living with purpose, and helping others. This is
ironic because she really isn’t helping. All she is doing with the letters is wrecking the
town. For example, Dave and Linda were in a happy relationship until one of Ms.
Strangeworth’s letters got Dave in trouble.
15) Explain why Miss Strangeworth never suspects the children of laughing or
mocking. What does this prove about her opinion of herself?
She feels that because the children’s parents respect her so much, they would never
allow their children to mock her. This shows that she thinks a lot of herself and her
family. She feels that her existence is very important, and that everybody respects
her.
16) Miss Strangeworth overhears a conversation between Dave Harris and Linda
Stewart. Discuss the content of the conversation and explain Miss Strangeworth’s
role in it.
The conversation involves Linda telling Dave that he cannot see her anymore. The
Stewart family thinks Dave is sending the gossip letters to their house so he is not
allowed to see her. Dave doesn’t know what is going on, and keeps trying to get her
to tell him, but she doesn’t. Ms. Strangeworth is the one sending letters, and it
ruined the relationship between Dave and Linda.
17) Miss Strangeworth thinks that there is “so much evil in people. Even in a charming
little town like this one” (220). Explain what the evil is.
The evil comes from the letters that she sends around causing stress and chaos.
Linda’s father thinks that Dave is sending the letters, so he doesn’t want Dave to see
Linda anymore. Ms. Strangeworth doesn’t realize she is the root of all the evil, and
instead she thinks that the people in the town are just naturally that way, and that it
would be much worse without her.
18) Explain how the townspeople discover Miss Strangeworth’s role in the letters
being sent to citizens. How do they get Miss Strangeworth back?
The townspeople discover after she carelessly put the letters in the mail slot, and
one falls out. Dave Harris picks up the letter, and tries to call her, but she cannot
hear so he decides to deliver the letter to Don Crane directly. They finally find out
that she is the one sending the letters around, and the townspeople destroy her
roses.
19) Examine the last sentence of the story. How does Miss Strangeworth view her
punishment? How does she view what she has done? Explain the irony of this.
In the last sentence, Ms. Strangeworth views her punishment as cruel and
unnecessary. The roses were her pride, and she cherished them. They were passed
down from her ancestors, and they were a great beauty. She felt no guilt because
she thinks that what she does is her duty, and that sending the letters was the right
thing to do. She cries not because she realizes her wrong-doings, but because of
“the wickedness of the world”.